Creation

While there are some similarities among all creation stories, the differences between those from one region and a different region are quite remarkable. The closer two creation stories are in geographic origin, the more similarities you will find.

Many early Near Eastern creation stories tell of the world and its people coming into existence through battles between the creator god and the chaos monsters. We see fragments of this genre in Psalms and the Book of Job.

The second creation story in Genesis (Genesis 2:4b-20) can be typical of some creation stories from inland, arid regions - there is no mention of the ocean, and plants grew because God had yet to make it rain. This story contains moral themes, a frequent theme of some early creation stories.

The first creation story in Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) is very different from the story in chapter 2. Perhaps the most obvious thing in common between these two stories is the absence of chaos monsters in the narrative. The first creation story is much less like a folk story than is the second one, understandable as it was written in the form we know today by the Priestly Source, who was concerned with theology and the role of the priestly class in Jewish society. The differences are considerable, both in sequence and style. The creation story in Genesis chapter 1 is typical of cultures familiar with the oceans and great rivers. In this first story, God has almost unlimited power and causes things to exist merely by speaking them into existence. In the second story, God needs dirt to model and create Adam, then a rib to create Eve - examples of his more limited powers.

Both creation stories in Genesis came from earlier creation stories in Mesopotamia, and reflect similarities to the earlier stories. The imagery of the chaos monsters found in Pslams and the Book of Job, although fragmentary, can also be found in earlier creation stories in the Near East.

Answer:

Because Creation is a worldwide tradition shared by all ancient societies. Because it actually took place.

Regardless of its truth or otherwise, the biblical creation story ought not affect us in our everyday lives. But it does.

In some countries it is said that over half the population believes in the literal truth of biblical creation. This affects us all, because such a widespread belief in 'creationism' results in pressure on the school systems of those countries to teach creationism as part of the mainstream curriculum, rather than just as religious instruction. This impoverishes the teaching of science and could result in long-term damage to the competitiveness of the nation.

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There are two biblical creation stories (Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Genesis 2:4b-2:20) that are quite distinct and even contradictory, and each should be read on its own terms, rather than assuming a single creation account. The idea that there is only one biblical creation theory arises because pious readers, believing that the text cannot contain contradictions, ignore the major disjunctions between the two creation stories and tend to treat the second story as the fuller, more detailed account of the creation of man that the first story simply reported.

The Priestly source is credited with writing the first biblical creation account, and the Yahwist is credited with writing the second biblical creation account. Thus the Priestly source and the Yahwist were responsible for the biblical concept of creation, although of course each of them was passing on older traditions which they had learnt.

Essentially the modern documentary hypothesis is not so much to be compared to the biblical concept of creation, but an explanation for its origin.

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http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

http://christianity.answers.com/bible/the-pentateuch-explained

There are probably almost as many Christian views as there are Christians. However, the major Christian denominations are moving towards dismissing creationism as explaining the origins of life on earth. The following are the views of some of the Churches that back theistic or guided evolution as the explanation for life on earth.
Catholic Church

In the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict has backed "theistic evolution" which considers that God created life through evolution with no clash between religion and science. The Catholic Church considers the authority of the Pope to be absolute on matters of faith, therefore the position of the Catholic Church is in favour of the Theory of Evolution, not the obviously artificial construct of Intelligent Design, as the more extreme position of creationism is known.

Episcopal Church

The Episcopal Church has said that the theory of evolution does not conflict with Christian faith. In 2006, the General Convention affirmed, via Resolution A129, that God is creator and added that "the theory of evolution provides a fruitful and unifying scientific explanation for the emergence of life on earth, that many theological interpretations of origins can readily embrace an evolutionary outlook, and that an acceptance of evolution is entirely compatible with an authentic and living Christian faith."

Church of England

The Church of England is considering the possibility of apologising posthumously to Darwin, for its earlier condemnation of his theory

Greek Orthodox Church

The Greek Orthodox Church is divided between Compatibilists who hold that science and theology are compatible, and Incompatibilists who hold that science can be incompatible with faith. Many Incompatibilists reject evolution.

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church does not have an official statement on any theories of evolution. However, at the 2008 General Conference, three petitions made the following changes to United Methodist documents:

• Petition 80050: accepts evolution and corrects some ambiguities under "Science and Technology" in the Book of Discipline.
• Petition 80990: endorses The Clergy Letter Project and its reconciliatory programs between religion and science and urges United Methodist clergy participation, in Resolution 11, "God's Creation and the Church" in the Book of Resolutions.
• Petition 80839: creates a new resolution, "Evolution and Intelligent Design," in the Book of Resolutions: "The United Methodist Church goes on record as opposing the introduction of any faith-based theories such as Creationism or Intelligent Design into the science curriculum of our public schools."

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Beliefs about creation can be derived from religious belief, philosophical discussion or the evidence of science. The last of these two sources provide what could be called non-religious explanations.

Plato and Aristotle both put forward first cause arguments that said that eveything has a prior cause, until you arrive back at the very first cause, which is the origin of the universe. Since the first cause had to be in some way different to its successors, this line of argument usually came back to some form of religious origin. Even pantheism, a belief system that sees God as equivalent to nature, is still a religious explanation.

The only truly non-religious explanations for creation come from science. At one stage, the universe was thought to be static - a "steady state" - and eternal. It is now recognised that our universe had a beginning, and that all substance originated from a single point. This results in the theory known as the "Big Bang". Some scientists believe that there must have been many "Big Bangs", since the circumstances for one such event could be expected to occur repeatedly across infinite space and time, and that therefore there are many universes in what they term a multiverse. However, the infinite expanse of space means that we will never become aware of other universes.

Anecdotal evidence is that almost all creationists are Christians. The majority (but not all) of creationist spokespeople appear, from their comments and discussion, to be fundamental Christians.

Sections of the creationist movement in the United States approached the courts, claiming that creationism is not about religion, but is open as to who the creator was. However, they clearly gave no credence to the possibility that the creator god, if he exists, belongs in the Hindu pantheon or perhaps the pagan pantheon, etc. The only logical answer they saw was that the creator god was the Abrahamic God. The court has held that creationism and its offshoot, Intelligent Design, are religious concepts.

Those who identify as, or can be identified as, creationists tend to take a quite literal view of the Bible. Many are 'young-earth' creationists who believe, on biblical evidence, that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Others accept the scientific evidence for the age of the earth and adopt an 'old-earth' creationist view.
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The Roman Catholic Church acknowledges Darwin's theory of Evolution by Natural Selection as the likeliest mechanism for the origins of the diversity of life on earth.

Creationism is a purely Protestant phenomenon: Catholics don't have it, Muslims don't have it, Hindus don't have it, nor Buddhists,

A different Opinion

Creationism is a purely Protestant phenomenon, which is found in some. more fundamental, protestant denominations, especially in the "Bible Belt" of the USA. Roman Catholics don't have it, Muslims don't have it, Hindus don't have it, nor Buddhists, and most Protestants, especially Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists and many other denominations. While there are exceptions, they regard evolution as the likeliest mechanism, producing life over millions of years, although they generally believe that God was the creator of everything, and is still working through creation - through the means of science and evolution. ---------------------------------------------- A CHRISTIAN OPINION As a Christian, I read the Bible, and Genesis discusses creation, not evolution. I do believe in the evolution of a species (ex: the horse was originally eohippus) but I do not believe that we can evolve from one species to another. I consider myself a non-denomination Christian as the focus should be on Christ and God's Word, not on human interpretations, however I was raised in a Baptist church. I'm sure there are some who believe in evolution, but a Christian (which includes Protestant and Catholic) or Jew (Genesis is in the old testament) who studies and believes in God's word will acknowledge creation. All of the details are not listed in the Bible, but it is clear that God created humans from His own hand. As to Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists, they do not follow the Bible, so it is not unusual that they would believe differently. As a sidenote, many intellects, Christian and non-Christian are now embracing the idea of intelligent design due to advances in scientific research which make it harder to keep believing in the theory of evolution. Refer to The Design Revolution by William A. Dembski.

Umm, I think it does.